Nightmares
by badwolf2991
Summary: Rose has a rather realistic nightmare. Nothing too fluffy, nothing too scary. Just followed a thought on the thought train before I lost it.


**Nightmare fanfics seem very popular. Decided to give it a go. Also because I get bored easy. **

* * *

_Rose sat in the library, reading a book. Well, not really reading. More like blankly staring at the open book that was propped against her swollen belly. She could faintly hear the Doctor tinkering with the TARDIS in the control room. Rose felt the little boy kick, this time rather violently. Almost too violently. Absentmindedly, Rose rubbed the spot her son chose to attack. However, when it happened again, but slightly stronger, she snapped back to consciousness. It hit again and she knew that this wasn't just her son being over-active. _

_"Doctor!" There was a slight edge of panic in her voice. Thankfully, even from this distance, the Doctor heard her, and appeared within seconds. _

_"What is is?" He said from the doorway. _

_"The baby. I think I just felt-" Her words were cut off by another contraction. Seeing the pain flash across her face, he knew just what she was going to say. _

_"Ok, up you go. Come along, off to the medical bay you go." He rushed to her side, helping her up off the chair. He helped her slowly to the medical bay, pausing every dozen or so steps as another contraction hit, causing Rose to cry out in pain and grasp his hand. Finally they made it to the medical bay and he helped Rose onto the table. _

_"Rose, these contractions are stronger than they should be. I have to check how dilated you are." She nodded, the pain of another contraction making it hard to talk. Thankfully, at this point, Rose felt uncomfortable wearing anything but loose dresses. This made it easier to check how dilated she was. He didn't like what he saw. _

_"Rose," he started cautiously. "You're almost fully dilated. Have you been having them for long?"_

_"I don't know. They only got really bad just before I called you. Although I thought he was being rather over-active all morning." Her words were punctuated by winces and heavy breathing. _

_"How did you miss your water breaking?"_

_"How should I know?!" She nearly shouted as another contraction hit. _

_"Honey, that was a-never mind." He began prepping for the oncoming baby. "It shouldn't be long now."_

* * *

_Almost four hours later, Rose was still in labor._

_"Doctor," Rose said, strained against the contraction. "They're getting worse. I don't know how much longer I can do this." Her voice ended in a whisper as the pain continued coursing through her body. _

_"I don't get this. The baby isn't breech, your water broke, you're fully dilated, yet the baby isn't crowning." Confused, he checked the monitors again. Baby's heart rate was normal, and it appears that he hadn't moved since he checked five minutes ago. Rose's heart rate, however, had rose past the point that was considered safe. Her body wouldn't be able to take this much stress for much longer. _

_"Doctor, please make it stop." she practically sobbed as another contraction hit. They were much closer together, only about a minute apart now. The machine monitoring her vitals started emitting a high pitched shrill. The Doctor's face fell. She was hemorrhaging. This was not good. Another contraction hit and _

Rose woke up panting, jolting upright. She was in her bed, in her room, in the TARDIS.

"Rose?" she jumped at the sound of her named, which was followed by two short knocks. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." Her reply was faint.

"You alright?" The Doctor stepped into her room. He walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge.

"Yeah" Once again, her reply was faint. She cleared her throat and attempted it again. "Yeah. Just a... just a nightmare." Her voice sounded stronger, but the Doctor found it strange that she didn't automatically move into his embrace.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Her reply was curt. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Talking about it will make you feel better. Also, the chances of it occurring again greatly diminishes its chance of reoccurring if you talk about it." He said.

"Yeah? Tell that to the nightmare of being chased by a unicorn-riding, zombie leprechaun wearing a clown suit. Had that nightmare every couple of weeks for two years. Went through three therapists." He chuckled, but stopped when he noticed she wasn't looking at him.

"Seriously, Rose. Just tell me what it was about. I heard you from the control room." Worry leaked into his words. He hadn't heard her scream like that since the nightmare about the Daleks. He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"I was pregnant."

"What?" Shock soaked his voice. "Well, I could see why that could come as a shock, but why would you wake up screaming bloody murder?"

"Something was going wrong. The contractions were getting closer and stronger. My body couldn't handle it. The monitors started going crazy. And then I woke up." Her head was pressed against his chest, and even through all of his layers, she could hear his calming double heart beat.

"Have you had this nightmare before?" He rubbed his hand soothingly up and down her back.

"No." Her breathing had finally slowed down back to normal. "But it was very vivid and seemed very real."

"Most nightmares are. But unless you snuck around behind my back, I can pretty much guarantee that you are not pregnant. Which means no labor gone wrong." He relaxed when she laughed at that. "Can I ask you another question?"

"Go ahead." She rolled her eyes, knowing what question he was about to ask.

"What was this dream about a unicorn-riding..."

"Unicorn riding, zombie leprechaun dressed as a clown." He laughed.

"And what brought that on?"

"One therapist said that I was unattached from my emotions, which was caused by anxiety because some mysterious person had a power over me. Another simply said I just had an over-active imagination. The third said I probably watched a scary movie and my nightmare was a result of watching said movie. Although I checked and no movie was ever made were there was a unicorn riding, zombie leprechaun dressed as a clown." She shrugged. "The clown part was understandable. Clowns are creepy. The rest didn't make much sense however."

"How did you know it was a leprechaun if it was dressed as a clown?"

"Dressed in green, Irish accent, pot of gold in his arms. That and instead of asking for brains, he kept saying 'my Lucky Charms'. Like I said, it didn't make sense then. It's not going to make much sense now."

"Feel better?"

"Yeah. Thanks. However..." she trailed off.

"Yes, I'll stay the night with you. Scooch over." Rose moved over, allowing the Doctor to lay down on her bed. She cuddled up against his body, laying her head on his chest.

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Rose?"

"Hypothetically speaking, if we were to have sex, could I get pregnant?" She felt him sigh.

"Hypothetically speaking, I don't know. Time Lord women have gotten pregnant by a human male before. The child was born healthy, with no apparent problems. Born like a normal Gallifreyan. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system, regenerated when necessary, everything the same. The only difference was that when they regenerated, they didn't change completely like a full-blooded Gallifreyan. To change an aspect of their image, they had to actively think about it during the regeneration. Whereas if I were to regenerate, as you saw, I don't think about anything. At least not consciously. I would have been ginger long before now if I could control it." He gave another sigh. "See here's the thing. A pregnancy with a Time Lord child is rather stressful for the mother, like a human pregnancy. But since it usually takes anywhere from 10 to 16 months for a Time Lord child to fully develop, that would be very stressful for a human woman. Sometimes a nine month pregnancy is too stressful for a human. It makes sense, in a way, as to why the labor in your dream went wrong. Somehow, don't ask why, if a Gallifreyan baby were to be born too early, the mother's body would recognize that the child isn't fully developed. And if the child isn't fully developed, her body essentially refused to let the child be born. Which would explain why the contractions got stronger and closer. You're body was fighting itself. The human aspect of you said that the baby was done growing, but the part of your mind that knew it was part Gallifreyan knew that it wasn't. If you were a Time Lord, your body would have stopped the contractions before your water broke and any serious damage could have been done. But you're human, and I'm not bashing humans, but your body isn't really meant to just stop contractions like that. To your body, the only way to stop contractions is for the baby to be born." He sighed again. The Doctor looked down toward Rose. In the darkness, he could faintly see the outline of her body. Her breathing had become much slower; she had fallen asleep while he was busy explaining Gallifreyan pregnancies. A small smile appeared on his face, as he gazed down at Rose. In a soothing voice, he quietly continued to explain all about Gallifreyan pregnancies, also talking about the few half human/ half Gallifreyan pregnancies he had heard about. Then, something happened that almost never does.

Halfway through his monologue, the Time Lord fell asleep, his arm still around the golden human, her head resting on his chest, just over one of his hearts, her arm laying across his suit covered abdomen.


End file.
